This lemon blueberry cake is super moist and tender, infused with the bright flavors of lemon and dotted with bursts of juicy blueberries. It’s packed with flavor, has the most velvety crumb and is topped with a tangy cream cheese buttercream frosting – so so sooo good!
Why You’ll Love This Lemon Blueberry Cake
When developing this recipe, there were two things that had to be perfect – taste and texture! Here are a few notable ingredients that really allow this cake to shine:
Lemon zest: This lemon blueberry cake recipe is bursting with lemon flavor as it uses both fresh lemon juice and fresh lemon zest. The zest is creamed together with the butter and sugar which releases even more of the lemon flavor from the zest. Due to the acidic nature of lemons, it also gives the cake the most wonderful velvety texture. For more information on how acidic ingredients contribute to a soft cake, check out this blog post.
Yoghurt: This recipe also uses yoghurt, which adds great moisture and flavor to the cake. As yoghurt has a tart flavor to it, I find that it complements the lemon so so well, and helps that lemon flavor shine even more!
Vegetable oil: This recipe uses unflavored vegetable oil which just adds incredible moisture to the cake. Vegetable oil is liquid at room temperature, so substituting some of the butter for oil, makes for a moister cake.
Cornstarch: For a softer cake, I substitute some of the all purpose flour with cornstarch. For more information on how this helps with a soft cake, check out this blog post.
Blueberries: Ofcourse we can’t forget the blueberries! This recipe uses fresh blueberries that are folded through the cake batter. This adds a wonderful pop of juicy blueberry flavor throughout the cake. If using frozen blueberries, remember not to let them thaw otherwise you’ll end up with a purple batter!
For a more simple version with no frosting, check out my simple blueberry cake recipe.
How to Make Lemon Blueberry Cake
Begin by preheating your oven to 180 °C (350°F) conventional and grease two 8 inch round cake pans (I use my homemade cake release), lining the bottoms with parchment paper as well as this cake tends to stick to the bottom. If using a fan function (also known as convection mode) then you will need to reduce the temperature to 160C (320F).
In a medium bowl, sift together flour, cornstarch, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Mix together using a whisk and set aside.
In a large bowl add in butter, vegetable oil, sugar and lemon zest. Using an electric mixer (hand or stand mixer) on a medium speed, cream together for 3 minutes until light and creamy. If using a stand mixer then use the paddle attachment.
Add in the eggs one by one, mixing well in between addition.
Add in milk, yoghurt and lemon juice. Mix until well combined. Now set your mixer aside as the remainder of the batter will be finished by hand.
Add your pre-sifted dry ingredients to your wet mixture, and using a spatula, fold together until just combined. Do not overmix.
To finish off, toss the blueberries in a tablespoon of flour (this will prevent them from sinking to the bottom of the cake layers) and then add the berries to the batter, discarding any left over flour, and fold them in with a spatula until just combined. Again try not to overmix it.
Distribute the batter evenly into the two 8 inch cake tins. Try to distribute the blueberries evenly so that you have some on the top of the cake as well. Bake for 35-40 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
Once baked, allow the cake layers to cool in the cake tins for about 15-20 minutes, and then turn them out onto a wire rack to completely cool. Frost with the cream cheese buttercream.
How to Decorate Lemon Blueberry Cake
There are so many wonderful ways you could decorate a lemon blueberry cake, but here is how I decorated mine 🙂
Usually I start by trimming off the tops of my cake layers with a serrated knife so that they’re nice and flat (this makes them easier to stack), but these cake layers baked up quite flat so I left them as is.
I then went ahead and placed my first cake layer in the middle of a cake stand and smoothed out some frosting on the top with my offset spatula.
I then placed the next cake layer on top, and again smoothed out some frosting on top and sides of the cake, so that the cake was completely covered. I didn’t bother doing a crumb coat (check out this video for more info on what a crumb coat is), but you can do one if you prefer. I then used my cake scraper to smooth out the sides.
Now when you scrape the sides of a cake, you usually end up with a lip of frosting around the top edges. To get rid of this and get a ‘sharp edge’ on the top, slowly bring your offset spatula into the middle of the cake, catching that lip of frosting as you go.
I then finished off by doing some piping around the top edges using a 1A piping tip.
Commonly Asked Questions
How to store lemon blueberry cake
This cake can be left at room temperature for the day, however overnight it will need to be refrigerated due to the cream cheese in the frosting. The fat and sugar in the frosting will prevent the cream cheese from going off immediately, which is why you can keep it out at room temperature for an extended period of time.
When storing, place it into an airtight container, and into the refrigerator. Allow it to come to room temperature before serving.
Can I use frozen blueberries?
Yes you can – just make sure you don’t let them thaw otherwise it will turn your batter mushy and purple. Your cake will also likely need a little bit of extra cooking time.
How do you prevent blueberries from sinking in a cake?
The best way to prevent blueberries from sinking to the bottom of a cake is to coat them in flour. Toss the blueberries in about 1 to 2 tbsp of all purpose flour before folding them into the cake batter.
Moist Lemon Blueberry Cake
Print Pin VideoIMPORTANT: For accuracy, I would recommend using the gram measurements provided, as those are the exact quantities I use. Cup measurements are given as estimates (based on US cup measurements) to make it easier for those who do not have a scale.
Ingredients
Lemon Blueberry Cake
- 2⅓ cups (295 g) flour - regular, all purpose
- ¼ cup (30 g) cornstarch
- 2 tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp salt
- 6 tbsp (86 g) unsalted butter - room temperature
- ¾ cup (141 g) unflavoured vegetable oil - I use canola oil
- 1⅔ cups (333 g) white granulated sugar
- 2½ tbsp lemon zest - about 2 lemons zested (see note 1)
- 3 large eggs - room temperature
- 2 tbsp (26 g) milk - room temperature
- ¾ cup (185 g) yoghurt - plain, unsweetened, room temperature
- ¼ cup (55 g) fresh lemon juice
- 1½ cups (250 g) fresh blueberries - see note 3 if you want to use frozen blueberries. Coat the blueberries in 1 to 2 tbsp of flour
Cream Cheese Frosting
Instructions
Lemon Blueberry Cake
- Preheat oven to 180 °C (350°F) conventional (see note 2 if using a convection oven with a fan) and grease two 8 inch cake tins (I use my homemade cake release), lining the bottoms with parchment paper as well as this cake tends to stick to the bottom.
- Sift together flour, cornstarch, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Mix together using a whisk and set aside.
- In a large bowl add in butter, vegetable oil, sugar and lemon zest. Using a hand or stand mixer on a medium speed, cream together for 3 minutes until light and creamy.
- Add in the eggs one by one, mixing well in between addition.
- Add in milk, yoghurt and lemon juice. Mix until well combined. Now set your mixer aside as the remainder of the batter will be finished by hand.
- Add your pre-sifted dry ingredients to your wet mixture, and using a spatula, fold together until just combined. Do not overmix.
- To finish off, toss the blueberries in a tablespoon of flour (this will prevent them from sinking to the bottom of the cake layers) and then add the blueberries to the batter, discarding any left over flour, and fold them in with a spatula until just combined. Again try not to overmix it.
- Distribute the batter evenly into the two 8 inch cake tins. Try to distribute the blueberries evenly so that you have some on the top of the cake as well. Bake for 35-40 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
- Once baked, allow the cake layers to cool in the cake tins for about 20 minutes and then carefully turn them out onto a wire rack to completely cool. The cake layers are soft and delicate, so handle them carefully. Frost with the cream cheese buttercream.
Assembly
- See the end of the blog post above for assembly instructions or watch the recipe video for a visual demonstration 🙂
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Nutritional information are estimates only as they are automatically calculated by a third party application. Actual values may differ based on brands and types of products used.
168 Comments
Hi,
I loved your receipe!!
Just wanted to know what can I use as a substitute for eggs in this reciepe??
As we do not eat eggs 🙁
Hi Vidhi! So happy to hear you loved the recipe 🙂
I haven’t tried this recipe as an eggless version myself so I’m not too sure what would be best as a substitute sorry! I do have some eggless recipes you can find here: https://cakesbymk.com/recipe-category/eggless/
You may be able to adjust the eggless vanilla cake recipe and add in some lemon zest and fold blueberries in 🙂
So sorry I couldn’t be of more help!
Cake flour is flour that already has corn starch in it. So when using in place of all purpose and corn starch you’d use the equivalent of the 2 added together.
Hi Jody! 🙂
So cake flour is usually made up of a softer flour that’s finely milled, giving it a lower protein content. Cake flour substitutes tend to use a combo of all purpose flour and cornstarch (as I do in many of my recipes as they are more accessible than cake flour). You are correct in that if using cake flour, you want to substitute both the all purpose flour and cornstarch with cake flour 🙂
Hope you enjoy the recipe!
Heyy MK! I noticed that your cake recipes use butter, is it okay if i substitute the butter for margarine? as butter is quite expensive and not as easily accessible where i live
Hi Jasmine! I haven’t tried baking with margarine myself, though other readers have substituted butter in my recipes for margarine and it seems to have worked well so it’s worth a try 🙂
Would love to hear how it goes if you decide to try it out 🙂
Excellent cake. Comes together easily. The icing is not too sweet which is a plus. Moist and flavorful. This freezes well too. To freeze, I cut the cake into single serving slices and freeze without wrapping just until the icing hardens (this keeps the icing from sticking to the wrapping when you thaw it). When frozen wrap with cling wrap and put into a plastic baggie and put it back into the freezer until ready to eat. To serve, unwrap the cake and let thaw covered with a bowl or plastic dome that doesn’t touch the icing. Tastes like it did the day I made it. Can’t wait to try more Cakes by MK.
Aww yay! So happy to hear you loved the recipe Susan and so glad it froze well too! Thank you for sharing your freezing tips, I am sure other readers will find that helpful 😀
Really appreciate the wonderful feedback 🙂
Hello MK.
You are a gem ❣️
I love all your recipes.
I would like why in the lemon blueberry cake you don’t use half butter half oil?
Also when baking it I found the cake batter was becoming too runny and my blueberries would sink.So I reduced the amount of milk/yoghurt mixture.Let me have your thoughts.
Hi Nas! So glad you’re enjoying the recipes 😀
For this recipe I found it made for a moister cake to use more oil, without affecting the structure of the cake 🙂
In terms of the mixture being too runny, it could be because not enough butter was used when initially creaming the butter (or too much oil), too much liquid in the batter or not enough flour. For best results, I would recommend using the gram measurements provided (if you didn’t already) as those are the exact quantities I use 🙂
I would also make sure to coat the blueberries well with flour before adding them to the batter and this should prevent them from sinking.
Hope that helps for next time Nas! 🙂
Hello dear MK,
Could I halve the recipe and bake it in a brownie tin? Also would half of the frosting be too much for that size ? TIA 🙂
Hi Shanaz! 🙂
Yes that should be fine, though you may need to reduce the cook time slightly if using an 8 inch square cake tin 🙂
Yes I would recommend making only 1/3 of the frosting if you’re comfortable with the calculations, otherwise half will be fine as well and any left over frosting can be used for some extra piping if you like 🙂
Hope you enjoy the recipe!
Hi, can I use cake flour instead of all purpose flour and corn starch?
Hi Ada! 🙂 I haven’t tried that myself, but I believe it should work fine 🙂
Just remember to substitute the cornstarch too (and not simply omit it) to ensure there is enough flour in the batter 🙂
Hope you enjoy the recipe!
Hello! Would this still work if baked in a loaf tin??
Hi Venus! 🙂 I haven’t tried that myself but I think it should be okay as long as the loaf isn’t super tall. The cake batter results in quite a soft cake so just not sure if it would hold up as well as a tall loaf 🙂
Hope that helps and hope you enjoy the recipe!
My husband is a chocolate cake lover and he said this cake was so moist and it’s the next best to chocolate. I loved the taste. I did use a different lemon frosting that used 1/2 c. of butter and 8 oz. of cream cheese. It was plenty for the cake. I made the layers one day and separated them with waxed paper. Much of the cake stuck to the wax paper, so the next time will frost it from the cooling racks. It was warm and I didn’t want the cake to get too warm. My fridge was packed.
Hi Debra! So so happy to hear you and your husband love the cake 😀
If making the cake layers ahead of time, if I’ve understood correctly, you could perhaps place them in two separate airtight containers (instead of one on top of another) and this may prevent them from sticking to the wax paper 🙂
Really appreciate the wonderful feedback Debra 🙂
Can this be made GF? It looks delicious 😋
Hi Esther! 🙂 I haven’t tried making this recipe gluten free myself, but I think if using a gluten free flour that’s meant to act as a 1:1 substitute with regular flour it should be fine 🙂
Hope you enjoy the recipe!